"He continues to be a bit feast or famine" - Nasser Hussain points out Ollie Pope's inconsistencies in Test cricket
Ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain has called for Ollie Pope to improve his consistency, claiming that his form remains concerning for the national team. Hussain observed that Pope scores plenty of runs or fails altogether in any given innings.
While the Surrey batter has scored three Test centuries this year, including a best of 196 against India in Hyderabad, the right-hander has managed only one fifty in between those and the remaining have been low scores. The first Test against Pakistan in Multan saw him perish for a duck on an excellent batting strip, while he made scores of 29 and 22 in the second game of the series.
In his column for The Daily Mail, Hussain wrote:
"His form is a concern for England. He continues to be a bit feast or famine. It was only two games ago he got a magnificent hundred at The Oval, but before that, he didn't get many runs. Either side of his big scores, there are a lot of low scores, so he needs to find a consistency to his game."
Pope was also dismissed twice by Sajid Khan in the second Test, who wrecked England's batting unit with seven wickets in the first innings and added two more to his total in the second.
"There is no reason for England to press the panic button" - Nasser Hussain
Although Hussain believes the toss became vital in the second Test, he reckons England could still be disappointed due to their approach against spin. Hence, he thinks Ben Stokes and co. have a lot to work to do when it comes to playing spin. He wrote:
"There is no reason for England to press the panic button. When you are playing on a pitch that has been used for five days, the toss becomes absolutely vital - and it was a bad one for England to lose. As you can see with the diminishing scores throughout the Test match, every innings it started to spin more and batting got harder. But England won’t make excuses and they will still be disappointed.
"The hosts may not get quite as extreme conditions as this in the deciding Test in Rawalpindi, which has historically been a flat pitch. It was about as tough as it gets for England on what was effectively a day-nine pitch. But there is still plenty to work on in England’s batting department in these conditions."
With the 152-run in the second Test, Pakistan also broke their losing streak at home, which stretches back to February 2021. The third and final Test against Pakistan begins on October 24 in Rawalpindi.